A bullion coin that’s been produced since 2011, the Ukrainian Archangel Michael has a classic numismatic design and over the last couple of years has proven increasingly popular. While there are gold bullion versions available, there’s always been an absence of higher quality issues. A privy mark variant has appeared in the past, but remained with the standard bullion version.

Tomorrow sees the launch of a proof silver Archangel Michael coin. Visually identical to the well liked bullion coin, it’s a great looking design and one we’re looking forward to seeing a proof version of in hand. There are no signs of a gold variant yet, but with most of the interest on the silver coin we’d be surprised if a gold proof materialised this year.

If you want to know more about the bullion coin, then head over to our Bullion Profile for more information. The proof coin has a mintage of 10,000 pieces. It’s unknown if this will be a regular release, but some national banks in the region have a sporadic issue programme with proof coins, the Russian George the Victorious springs to mind, so we’d look at this as a special issue for now, rather than the start of a new annual event. Availability of the bullion coin has improved this year so we’d suggest keeping an eye out at dealers like APMEX to see if they’ll be stocking them.

2017 ARCHANGEL MICHAEL PROOF SILVER COIN

MINTS DESCRIPTION

Memorable coin dedicated to Archangel Michael – Archangel, one of the most respected bible characters.

OBVERSE: at the top of the small State Emblem of Ukraine and the semicircular inscription NATIONAL BANK OF UKRAINE in the center of the dark background in the octagonal cartouches on the shield depicts the logo of the National Bank of Ukraine – Griffin allegorical figures, among which – hryvnia – monetary unit weight of Kievan Rus; under the shield – the year of issue – 2017; denomination – one hryvnia (semicircle below).

REVERSE: against the dark background depicts Archangel Michael; semicircular inscriptions … for us righteous and soul, and strength of Archangel Michael (lines from a poem by Shevchenko `Haydamaky`).